Broadcom rolls SoC switches for enterprise

PORTLAND, Ore.—Broadcom Corp., which already boasts that 99.98 percent of all data traffic crosses one of its chips, rolled out Monday (Jan. 28) a new portfolio of system-on-chip (SoC) switches for the enterprise—from wiring closet to datacenter—as well as a for smaller and medium-sized businesses.

"Our newest additions to the popular StrataXGS Series simplify the provisioning and monitoring of mobile user traffic," said Nikhil Desai, product line manager at Broadcom. "StrataXGS provides a secure, seamless and high-speed connection to the enterprise data center or cloud-computing resource."

The three new StrataXGS members combines gigabit Ethernet switching and routing with an ARM-core, IP firewall, WLAN controller, network virtualization, 40G stacking, and are designed for connecting the entire enterprise, from wiring closet to datacenter to cloud-storage resources.

Switching and routing 120Gbits per second line-rate from large forwarding tables, the new StrataXGS SoCs also apply deep-packet inspecting techniques to distribute firewall functions across all access ports. Called App-IQ, it allows IT to monitor and control provisioning of wireless access points in a unified view with wired resources.

Broadcom (Irvine, Calif.) also announced what it claims is the world's smartest switch SoC for small to medium business. As the newest addition to its StrataConnect Series, the latest entry features advanced power management techniques that batch-and-burst network traffic, in order to keep the switch in low-power mode as much as possible.

"StrataConnect is switch system-on-a-chip (SoC) that brings enterprise-class features to the network of the small-to-medium business (SMB)," said Sanjay Kumar, product line director for SMB at Broadcom. "The StrataConnect SoC combines Layer 2 and 3 switching, 16-gigabit Ethernet PHY [physical layer] transceivers and an ARM core onto a single piece of silicon."

The 10Gbit Ethernet switch SoC has scalable table sizes, integrated security features and an ARM core, making the StrataConnect SoC smart enough to extend the Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) protocol by batching and bursting network traffic, which is especially useful in small offices that must support mobile traffic, VoIP phones and cloud services.